The Sins We Carry
by HelloThereMyFriends
Summary: For eight years, Kazuto spends his life hidden from his past seeking atonement for the grievous sins he committed. He alone carries the burden of guilt on his shoulders. He alone carries the lives of those affected by his errors. Abandoned by his friends and forgotten by his family, he seeks now is atonement for his sins and a way to disappear. (POST CANON, POST ALICIZATION ARC)


**A/N.**

This story is written by me in fulfillment of a writing requirement needed for my course here in college. I purely write for both the grades and my, and hopefully your personal enjoyment. This story is rather different from the stories posted here in the SAO community and I hope that this story will standout and maybe become a landmark in SAO writing. Or maybe I'm just hoping too much.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

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**CHAPTER 1: The Damnation We Suffer**

_"Has it been nearly eight years...?"_

Kazuto, once known as Kazuto Kirigaya or the Black Swordsman of ALO, or the many titles he had garnered over the years, walked quietly within the decrepit decks of the long abandoned Ocean Turtle. Despite being only 35 years old, he walked like an old man. His body weak and his shoulders visibly sagged. His face blank yet full of maturity and wisdom gained through hardship and harrowing experience. His eyes empty and emotionless having been scarred and burdened by the sins he had committed nearly eight years ago. His lively smile was long replaced with a permanent frown. A frown he knew would never go away as long as his sins remained.

He silently walked across the decrepit and eerily silent decks of the Ocean Turtle. A decade ago, this place was the home of advanced technology and wondrous science. But now, it was a relic of a past; gathering dust and floating silently while the ocean currents of the Pacific guided it thanks to the loss of the anchors years ago. The Ocean Turtle once served as the home of Project Alicization which aimed to develop a bottom up A.I.. The project failed miserably and he would never forget the screams of agony as the Underworld and its denizens died and turned into nothingness.

Shaking away the bad memories, Kazuto arrived at the main control panel where the Underworld, while it still existed, was monitored from. Despite being abandoned nearly two decades ago, the systems still functioned properly albeit somewhat slower. After all, it was the most important part of the Ocean Turtle. Kazuto knew that they built the facility to last.

The screens were at low power mode to conserve the Ocean Turtle's stored energy. It only displayed lines of white text reporting on the status of Kazuto's next experiment.

**PROJECT: RESTORATION **  
**EXPERIMENT #2729**

**PREPARING SIMULATION...**  
**SYSTEM CHECK: READY**  
**SAFEGUARDS: READY**  
**POWER SUPPLY:READY**  
**...**

Kazuto glanced over most of the information. He knew the Ocean Turtle's systems was still going strong and remained reliable. He could spend another decade here and they would still function perfectly. There were only two checks that worried him.

**...**  
**ALFHEIM ONLINE SESSION FLUCTLIGHT SAVE: READY**  
**ALO SESSION BACKUP: READY**  
**VAT GROWN BODIES: 250 BODIES READY FOR FLUCTLIGHT TRANSFER**

**SIMULATION PREPARATION COMPLETE.**  
**BEGINNING STL LINK ESTABLISHMENT...**

**STANDBY...  
...**

"Good evening, Kazuto. I see you are as alive as you can be. " The computerized voice chuckled, seemingly amused with himself. Despite being an A.I. and dead for two decades, he still was still the same old sadistic bastard Kazuto once remembered.

"Good evening, Kayaba." Kazuto answered blankly

Kazuto's eyes met with the eyes of Kayaba, still the same youthful man since the SAO incident, who was a hologram next to the only functioning keyboard of the Ocean Turtle supercomputer. Decades ago, Kayaba, for reasons he didn't understand, uploaded his consciousness to the internet. Kayaba looked as if he was still smiling and happy, as if the weight of his fair share of sins wasn't overshadowing him.

"How goes the experiments?" Kazuto asked.

"Your assumptions on how to convert the Fluctlights to an A.I. then back to Fluctlights was correct." Kayaba answered, smiling in contrast to Kazuto's depression. "I calculate a 100% conversion efficiency based on the last 236 experiments. In other words, we perfected the process of converting Fluctlights to A.I. and back to Fluctlights."

"That is good." Kazuto replied, his demeanor lightening up marginally. "We are almost there..."

Kazuto took a glance back at the screens, his eyes making reading each line attentively.

**...**  
**STL LINK ESTABLISHMENT COMPLETE.**  
**EXPERIMENT #2729 READY**

**BEGIN EXPERIMENT? (Y/N)**

Kazuto's lips turned into a small smile as he reached for the keyboard. A single press of a button and he would be one step closer to atonement.

"Kazuto." Kayaba asked, his enthusiastic endeavor from before took a more serious and concerned look.

"Have you been eating and sleeping properly?"

"Yes I have been Kayaba."

Kayaba squinted his eyes and glared at Kazuto. Kazuto stared back.

"You're lying."

"So what about it?"

"As much as I am a sadistic bastard like before, I still have some humanity left." Kayaba sternly replied, his gaze meeting with Kazuto's. "You should really take care of yourself even just a little. I mean look at our progress. Eight years ago we came here with no clue how to atone for our sins and now we are so close. _You _are close."

Kazuto remained emotionless and motionless as he considered his words. Kayaba briefly thought that somehow his words did at least something to make him consider.

"... meh..." Kazuto said dismissivly, waving his hand to further emphasize his point. "Let us just get this over with..."

Kayaba resigned, sighing as he saw no point with arguing with Kazuto.

"Well then. Let us begin the experiment."

Kazuto clicked "Y" on the keyboard and the screens came to life. Volumes of information about the experiment poured in as the latest experiment of the unlikely duo began in earnest.

Kayaba stared at the screen blankly. His eyes analyzing all of the information pouring in. From the information pouring in, the experiment looked it was doing well but he would have to dive deeper into the virtual system to make sure things were going smoothly.

"I will go now and oversee the experiment. Make sure you get plenty of rest, dear friend." Kayaba spoke quietly. He turned from the screen and faced Kazuto with his stern but somehow soft and caring face. "I lost too many friends when I made the stupid mistake of turning SAO into a death game. So get rest, Kazuto. I won't lose you too."

With that, Kayaba's hologram disappeared and left Kazuto alone.

The control room was silent other than the machinery humming quietly in the background. Kazuto stared silently into the screen as he read report after report. _'A little bit more.'_ Kazuto told himself. _'A few more experiments and everything will be forgiven.'_.

Kazuto took out a picture from his pocket. The picture was old and crumpled yet held one of the last links to Kazuto's formee life. He took it eight years ago in ALO with his ex-fiance Asuna Yuuki and their virtual daughter Yui.

_"...Yui..."_

Tears dropped down from his cheek and landed on Yui's image on the picture. She was so happy. They were so happy. He just had to ruin it all.

"Don't worry, Yui." Kazuto spoke softly, tears running down his cheek. "When I am done, you will come back to Mommy and you two can be the happy family you always dreamed of."

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**A/N. **Feel free to critique me. I need to improve my writing.


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